St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-10-05
WHO is THEIR MASTER :?
The National Alliance of Farmers Be-
gan Its Ninth Annual Session
Yesterday.
Proceedings Opened With Charge That
Some of the Delegates We're
Bought Up.
The Assertion That John S. Pillsbury
Paid Them Causes Some Hard
Language.

National Farmers alliance, with about
forty members in attendance, repre-
senting the states of Illinois, Iowa, Ne
braska, Kansas, Wisconsin, Dakota and
Minnesota, held their opening meeting
yesterday morning at Window hall,
Minneapolis. Promptly at 10 o'clock
President \. J. Streetor called the meet
ing to order, and recommended that the
convention proceed to appoint commit
tees on credentials and resolutions. BY
motion a committee of five was APP
pointed on credentials, con-
sisting of l.. D. Whiting, of Illinois,
j. w. Burrows, of Nebraska; John Dla-
mOnd, of Minnesota; August Post. OF
Iowa. and II. l.. LouckS, of Dakota. The
committee on resolutions was composed
of Milton George, of Illinois; ID. e..
Constance. of Wisconsin: Charles Can
ming, of Minnesota; Is. NJ. Ashley, of
Iowa: J. w. Burrows, of Nebraska: a.
d. Chase. of Dakota. and l.. d. Whit
ing, of Illinois. \ committee OF three
was appointed TO draft an address to
the American people and was composed
of the following members: L. ii. Bar
rett, of Minnesota; Milton George, of
Illinois. and J. w. Hardin, of Dakota.
Mrs. Hobart, of the w. c. L. u, made
short address CD the work of temper
ance organizations and gave short ac-
count of what had been accomplished
by the order, which she represented. l..
ID. Whitney. of Illinois, responded i'll be-
half of the alliance in few appropriate
and well chosen words.
The convention then adjourned for
dinner. and on reaSSemblmg Milton
George. the secretary, made his follow
ing report:
THE SECRETARY'S REPORT.
Milton George, national secretary,
began his report by congratulating the
delegates, and through them the great
mass of farmers. upon the signal pro-
greSS the alliance has made and on the
steady increase of its membership. He
thought that during the year at least a
thousand alliances had been organized
and to-day there were over 100000 far
merS enlisted under the alliance banner.
He continued:
A portion OF the South is organized under
a separate national organization, but the
most cordial feelings exist between the two
organizations. and the Southern alliance has
to-day. 1t matters not how we are organized,
so long as we all aim at the accomplishment
OF the same purpose-the establishment OF
universal state of justice between man and
man and class and class. In our unorganiZed
condition we have been and still are the prey
of all other classes. We are affected in some
measure byeve1y other industry. When the
monopolist seiZeS the gas works Of our cities
and towns and EFFORTS from the public
higher price than gas is worth, the
merchant and manufacturer add the
increased cost to the articles we buy; when
coal rings combine to plnnder the people
who consume coal, we do not escape the bur
den, though our stoves may be heated with
wood cut from our own premises. High coal
means an increase of expense IN the man.
agement of every industry that we are COM
PEELED to patroniZe, and the burden finally is
carefully laid and securely packed upon our
shoulders.
RINGS PLUMBER Us
when we sell and rings plumber us when we
buy. Even the doctors and undertakes are
in close combination, and so, living or dying,
the farmer is numerically fleeced. Nobody
seems to care anything about the funda-
mental industry of the country, which We
sustain by hard work and with little profit,
except to plumber It. The railroad monopoly
has fed and grown fat and arrogant upon our
farms and the sweat of our brows and has Sc
cured such firm grasp upon our Threats that
We are finding it exceedingly difficult to
break its relentless grip. The immense for
tunes that have been made by railroad man
ipulators have largely come, directly or indi.
rectly, from our tolls and our sacrifices. In
sense we have had no right to complain OF
any of these things. We may regret that hu-
man nature is so grasping that 1t readily
descends to practical dishonesty, even when
clothed with broadcloth, but neither regrets
nor theoretical sentiment will do us any good.
We need to enter upon practical work of
self defense and to show some practical in
terest in our own affairs. 1t is idle to expect
that other classes will look after our interests.
1t is idle to expect thatif we leave our pocket
book where thieves either well dressed or
ragged can easily get at 1t 1t viii no be stolen.
On the fences of our farms sit the agents of
every sort of committeeman if it is a
barbed wire fence, they are tough enough to
sit on it. watching every hill of corn and
head of grain, and every hoof, for the pur.
pose of absorbing them. We are constantly
under the surveillance OF well trained and
constituencies
ARMY OF LEECHES.
and never until the farmers of this country
are thoroughly organized Will that crowd get
off that fence and that army fall back at
respectful distance. Self protection and
common sense point to organization as the
only means by which we can secure and pre-
serve our rights. All the progress that has
been made in the last ten years in the way of
reform has been made as the result of organi-
cation among farmers and study of history
will bear out that statement, and the reason
that greater progress has not been made is
because organization has not been more
rapid. The interstate commerce law imper-
feet beginning of better things that are sure
to come. the legislation against the great re
spectacle fraud of the age, the selling of
bogus butter as the genuine article, legisla-
ton in the direction of protection to our live
stock interests, the retaining of great tracts
of unearned railroad lands-if indeed any
lands ever have been earned by the land
grant railroads-are unmistakably the result
OF organization among farmers, and are
sufficient TO show us that we have our own
destiny and the destiny of this great republic
in our own hands. Casting more than half
the vote of the country we can not only in
sure recognition OF our rights. but the re-
spOnsibility of securing universal right and
justice and preserving our free institutions
DEvoLvEs UPON THE FARMERS.
Their passive influence has done much t.
keep back the wave of destructive influence
hnr no hTn. tnTanh fIar oh.
republic. But the time has come when
passive responsibility and conservatism are
not sufficient. The republic to-day is in the
trough OF the sea. From one quarter is COM
ing great wave of monopoly, which is prac-
teal communism that seeks 10 confscate the
property of Others and from another quarter
is coming great wave OF socialism and MUIR
deroIS anarchy which not only seeks to con-
fscate our property, but to destroy our lives:
and the republic must ever rest its sure hone
for protection i'll the sun-browned hands of
our farmers. They must come to the rescue
or ruin is inevitable. They must counteract
the utter failure of self government in our
large cities by constituting good government
i'll the state and at Washington 1t is not
only a satisfaction, but source of encour-
agement and a mighty advantage in every
effort that we may make toward lettering
our own condition and establishing better
conditions generally, that the conservatism.
patrlousIn and love of right and justice,
which are conspicuous features of the aggre-
gate character OF our farmers. is universally
recognized by all classes.
WHEN ANARCHY BOASTS OF IT'S POWER,
it is quietly and confidently referred to the
millions of farmers. When the confiscation
of land is advocated for the benefit of lazi-
ness and prodigality in the city, the farmer
is counted upon as a certain opponent of any
such wild, communistic doctrine The
farmer is universally trusted, and he deserves
all the confidence that is reposed in him. He
has never demanded anything that was not
Just and right and he never will. He has
never demanded legislation that would give
agriculture an advantage over any other le-
Ultimate industry. He has simply demanded
that he should not be legislated against, and
that the laws which he willingly obeys shall